AFGHANISTAN: Death Near a Harem

For four years Afghanistan's hero has been her King, bespectacled, spade-bearded, ruthless Mohammed Nadir Khan. In 1929 Afghanistan was a shambles. Nadir's nephew King Amanullah, whose Western reforms so angered Afghans, had fled the capital (TIME. Dec. 24, 1928 et seq.). On the throne sat bloody Bacha Sakao, an upstart chief whose name meant "The Water Boy." Backed by the royal family's bribes of the Durani, Uncle Nadir marched on Kabul. He caught one of the Water Boy's favorite generals and his staff, boiled them all in vegetable oil. Water Boy picked...